Your Fault
by TsukiNoBara
Summary: Max Caulfield may have been the one to talk to Kate on the roof, but she was not the only one who tried to save her. A small story from the point of view of the only other character Max saw who was actually trying to do something during that frozen moment of time.


(Originally posted on Archive Of Our Own shortly after the release of episode 3.)

* * *

He took the steps two at a time. He was never going to make it, but he had to try. He had to.

 _Your fault_ , his steps echoed in the stairwell. _Your fault, your fault, your fault._

David Madsen hadn't wanted to admit it to anyone, not even himself, but he had been secretly relieved when he hadn't been able to make it onto the Arcadia Bay police force. Oh, he had cursed up a storm, had complained about it to Joyce, saying that those cops needed someone with experience to clean up this town of all the heroin addicts and potheads (there were so Goddamn _many_ of those), someone who could make a dent in the constant war against drugs. They needed someone who could make this place safe for Chloe, so that she wouldn't waste her life on this constant rebellion.

But a small voice in the back of his head had reminded him that being a police officer meant more than trying to intimidate druggies. Sometimes, you'd get someone violent. Sometimes, an officer had to draw a gun. Sometimes, they had to _kill_ people. Oh, Arcadia Bay was a small town, to be sure, with small-time criminals. But you never knew when a _really_ bad egg would come in.

He didn't want to do that. Not anymore. It's why he'd left the army in the first place. He didn't want to be responsible for any more deaths.

He grabbed the railing as he reached the landing for the second floor, using his momentum to twist his body around to the next set of stairs.

 _Your fault, your fault, your fault._

He'd become a security guard for the school instead. Maybe he could find some of those potheads while they were still young, and make them realize there was no future in drugs. He had thought he had found the newest drug addict with Kate Marsh, when her behavior had suddenly changed. Had tried to impress on her what a bad choice she was making, had tried to intimidate her into quitting.

He had been so Goddamned _stupid_. People changed their behavior for reasons other than drugs. Depression was one of those reasons. He knew it was. The army had passed out those suicide prevention pamphlets, trying to get them to recognize the symptoms in their fellow soldiers before they did something rash. Hell, he'd even managed to spot one of them just before his tour was over, and got them help.

 _Your fault, your fault, your fault._ He reached the third floor. Two more flights of stairs to go. He thanked God that he had stayed fit after leaving the army, or else he'd probably be winded by now.

He had become so focused on this drug war that he had forgotten there was more. And now a girl was going to pay with her life for his mistake. Hell, maybe she already had, and he was wasting his time on these stairs. But he was sure he would have heard the screams from outside. The stairs were close to that wall.

 _Your fault, your fault, your fault._ Finally, he reached the fourth floor, and it was only a couple steps to the roof door. He didn't know why it had been unlocked. He just knew it wasn't supposed to be, and that it was his job to make sure of it.

He slowed down as he reached the open door, hoping not to scare her into jumping with the sudden noise. Except there was already noise. Talking, it sounded like. Stepping as lightly as he could, he walked up the stairs until he could see the roof.

Only to see that Max Caulfield had beaten him up here.

He couldn't even begin to guess how she had gotten here first. She hadn't passed by him again before he left to tail Kate. And when he had stepped behind the tree to take notes after she went into the dormitory, no one had passed by. No one except Zachary, who had only shouted a curse before running the other way, back to the school. He was probably the one who brought the crowd. In fact, it hadn't been until the crowd had started gathering that he had even looked at the Prescott Dormitory, only to see the girl on the roof, almost ready to jump. He had sprung into action, running toward the dormitory to stop her. There had been no opportunity for Max to sneak by.

But she had. She had gotten there first.

"You haven't seen the looks I get... or the laughs," said Kate. How long had Max been here, to be able to get that close to Kate?

"I understand, truly," said Max. "I get bullied too! But this is a blip..."

"Yep, my life is a blip," Kate said dismissively. "Blackwell taught me I'm worthless. I'll prove it right now..."

David started as Kate took a step back, but Max was faster. "Kate! You can't do this to all the people who care about you!"

He watched as Max tried to impress upon Kate that she would be missed. He listened to her mention Kate's father, listened to her try to get Kate to think of God. He listened as Kate accepted her father's feelings, but rejected God's plans.

"'Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest,'" Max quoted. He knew that passage. So did Kate. He watched as Max held out her hand...

...and as Kate grabbed it and stepped down from the ledge, he let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. He watched as they collapsed in a heap, hugging each other. He'd give them a moment. No need to frighten them with his presence. He would wait, and he would be there for them, to walk them down the stairs.

He listened to the rain hitting the ground while he waited. _Your fault, your fault, your fault,_ said the raindrops. Maybe it was his fault she was up here, but at least the girl hadn't jumped because of him. He knew it had been a close thing, though.

He didn't know how Max Caulfield had gotten there before him, but he thanked God Almighty that she had.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

The first time I played through this, I noticed David Madsen running toward the toward the door as I walked up to the dormitory during that moment frozen in time, and it just really hit me then that he's probably not as much of an asshole as he seems.

All dialogue is taken directly from my playthrough.


End file.
